The comet. (Johnson City, Tenn.) 1884-1916, 1887-02-17
CLEvELAND's. yETo.
THE PRESIDENT REFUSES APPROVAL OF
THE nEPENDEy,r PENSION BILL.

ent to-day ser 1t to the House OF Rep
csentatives b is veto of the bill to Gre
tie pensions for the relief OF Deepen.
lent parents and honorably discharg-
ID soldiers and sailors who are now
disabled and dependent upon their
own labor for support. The message
ind bill were referred to the pension
on the promise made by Mr.
Matson that report would soon be
made
In his message Mr., Cleveland first
raises the objection to the bill that it
is an avowed departure from the prin-
ciple thus far adhered to respecting
Union soldiers; that the bounty of the
governmental the way of pensions is
generously bestowed when granted to
those who, in this military service and
in the line of military duty, haYe, to a
greater or less extent, been disabled.
He admits, however, that service pen
sions are not new thing under this
government, as they were provided for
soldiers of the revolution, of the war
but in each instance they were not
granted until a time so remote from
their military service of the persons
whom they embraced that their ex-
IRENE age alone was deemed to-supply
a presumption Of dependency and
need, He quotes the figures OF enlist
ments in these wars to sustain this
point, and then passes on to the argu-
ment that, so far as the bill relates to
the soldiers of the civil war, the boun-
ty it affords them is given thirteen
years earlier than it has been furnish
ed to the soldiers of any other war,
and before a large majority OF its ben
eficiaries have advanced in age be-
You'd the strength and vigor Of the
prime of life.
PENSIONERS WHO NEVER SMELT pow
| DER.
He objects that the bill exacts only
a service ofthree months, without any
requirement of actual engagement in
battle, and awards pensions to men
who have sustained no injury refer
able to military service or who may
have never reached the front at all
The section allowing the pension o.
$12 per month seems to him to be sc
uncertain and liable to such conflict
ing constructions and to be subject tC
such unjust and mischievous applica
ton as to alone furnish sufficient
ground for Disappearing the proposed
legislation.
The President next devotes mucl
, space to the antiquities of the require
E ments under which pensions may b,
: obtained, especially that which de
,, clares that pensioners shall be thos
who can demonstrate their "total in
r ability to procure their subsistence b.
daily labor" He thinks little of tn
t safeguard that this disability must no
| be the result of the applicants "viciou
9 habits or gross carelessness," for, as b
o says, the attempt OF the government
, to escape the payment OF a pension OIL
o such plea would, of course, in YER
: large majority of instances and re
CARELESS OF the merits OF the case
i, 1prove a failure. There would be tina
strange, but nearly universal, willing
4 ness to help the individual, as betwee
+ him and the public treasury, whic
q goes very far to insure state of proc
;. in favor of the claimant
!. WHO ARE DEPENDENT PERSONS?
The President points out the diff
s. Guilty OF ascertaining what is supper
r. or lack of support. He says:
= Is the government to enter tn
II homes of claimants for pension an
% after an examination of their su
v roundings and circumstances settl
s. those questions? Shall the govern
r ment say TO one man that his name
o Of subsistence by his earnings is asul
IF port and to another that the thing
his earnings furnish are n0ta support
e Any attempt, however honest, to AZ
re minister this law in such mannC
e. would necessarily produce more Ill
a fairness and unjust discriminate
Of and give more scope for partisan pa
IL TALLY, and would result in more pc
Of version of the governments benev
h. lent intentions than the execution
% any statute ought to permit
ID am OF the opinion that it may fai
a. ly be contended that under the pr
lie visions of this section any soldie
@. whose faculties of mind or body la,
,e become impaired by accident, diseas
is or age, irrespective Of his service
id the army as a cause, and who by h
m labor only is left incapable of gainir
the fair support he might with unii
paired powers have provided for hil
self, and who is not so well endowe
te with this worlds goods as to live wit
H. out work, may claim to participate
ne its bounty that it is not required tn